Paving or flooring



El. CLARK ET AL PAVING 0R FLOORING March 23,1926. A 157mm Filed August '7, I1.924

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v'appiicanm mea august a, wat. Y seal no. 'remesa To ult lwhom t may concern Y' Beit hown that we,'EnNEs'r CLARK, a-

citifzen ofthe Commonwealth of Australia,

and DANIEL T. GuMARTImJr., a citizen ofthe United States, and residents of the! borough of Manhattan, 'in the city, county, and'State, of New York, andv lEast Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, respectively, have invented a new l@ and useful improved Paving or Flooring, of

which the following is a; specification.

This linvention relates to an improved pavingorooring, and hasffor an object to provide an improved structure of this charm acter which includes, among other features of value, the qualities of resilience, silence and durability. l

Another lobject consists in providing cer- 'A tain improvements in the form, const-rucf mi tion, material, composition and arrangement of the several parts, whereby the above, v named and other'objects may be effectively attained.

Broadly considered, the invention comm@ prehends .the provision of' a plastic-bed of" considerable area and composed of such material as, for' instance, concrete; the provision of a rubber pavingy or iooring element having projections thereon. composed e of material of substantially thesame nature as the paving element proper formed and arranged. inv a particular manner and the direct application of the said paving elements to the plastic bed so as. to forceinto the latte ter'the projections on the elements and, by

virtuevof such Contact, establish a paving or flooring having the desirable qualities above named. v

When, in this patent, we use the word t0 rubber, we intend .to include any. practical compound f rubber and, more particularly,-

a vulcanized rubber compound. When we referto plastic material, we intend to include any plastic substance suitable for the t@ purpose, and more particularly, a cexnenti-` tious substance, `such as concrete.

The direct application of the rubber element to the plastic element is of importance,-

since it promotes simplicityl and economy and because a rubber element and a cemen- .titious substance are very readily brought together into a firm union when projections are providedv en the rubber 4to be encompassed by the cement. "'llhis' not only `pro duces a highly desirable result, fbutthe elimination ofextraneousffastening elements, such as metallic-devices-,Yis of pronounced importance. I j

.A practical embodiment of our invention lis represented in the accompanying drawings, in which l Fig.' l represents .a top area of'such` paving, and A vlliig. 2 re resents-,a section taken in the plane of the line Elf-ll of Fig. 1,'looking in the 'v direction. of the arrows.

i 'llhe rubber elements are all the same and 'it will, therefore, sufiice to describe one.

VThe element is denoted in general by 1, and it has a seriesof studs 2, 3, projecting from the lower surface thereof. llt will be observed that the studs of the series 2 are somewhat higherthan those of the series 3.

This is a featureof some value because it plan view of way, the studs are undercut toward'theunl der face of the element as clearly shown in Fig'. 2, in order toinsure a stronger union or interlocking between the rubber element and the plastlcy bed. 'llhe said heads also have depressions 4, 5 which increase the interlocking effect buti are vmore particularly designedto assist in the withdrawal of the rubber element l4 from the metallic mold in which it will be vulcanized. rlhe resence of-these depressions-4,15 permits the aterally projecting or enlarged heads ofl the studs to readily be compressed or reduced in diameter by the manual act of pulling ythe rubberelement out of its metallic mold.

If desired, the said studs may be composed of a harder `rubber compound than the rubber element proper.

The plastic bed may preferably be composed of two layers of cementitious material, such as concrete; the lower layer being of comparatively 'coarse material and denoted in the drawings by 6, while the upper layer is marked 7 and should be composed of suliiciently fine material so that it will readily receive and encompass the projecting studs on the rubber elements.

In practice, 'we propose to lay the first layer of the road bed composed, for instance, of the coarse material 6. The comparatively fine layer 7 will then be spread on the coarse layer and the rubber elements, previously manufactured, compressed ldownwardlyV on the layer 7 so that their projecting studs 2,`

3 enter the said layer and the bottoms of the rubber elements, intermediate the studs,

rest upon the said layer. This pressing operation may satisfactorily be carried out by tamping or an analogous procedure. The natural process of hardening of the layer 7 will cause a very firm gripping of the rubber elements laid thereon as well as union with the sub-layer 6. The road bed is now complete and it will be seen that, in lcase it becomes necessary to repair the same, it is only requisite to break out some of the rubber elements and part of the layer 7, substitute a new area of the material such as the layer 7, and insert new rubber e'lements therein. i

In certain cases, as in many kinds of looring, when a reasonably level hard surface is presented, we iind it advantageous to 'dispense with the coarse layer 6 and to lay a line layer 7 directly upon the surface, which surface may be roughened or provided with recesses so as better to grip the said line layer. In other cases, as, for instance, in

laying the rubber flooring over a woodenv floor, we may employ a wire mesh or sheets of expanded metal, or the like, resting upon, and preferably secured to, the wooden surface to receive the line layer 7 of cementitious material; thus, in this case, also, dispensing with the coarse layer 6.

We wish to emphasize the extreme simplicity of this arrangement and the elimination of fastening devices other than results from the nature and configuration of the rubber elements and the inherent characteristics of the cementitious bed. I

Furthermore, the employment of the rub-v ber element laid directly upon a substantial area of plastic material, provides a road bed which is devoid of the disadvantages inherent in one that is characterized by the juxtaposition of a large number of blocks having individual bases or supports. We here refer to the unsatisfactory effects which arise from the action of each individual block and base upon its neighbor underservice conditions. This produces what is known as a rumbling or joggling and tends to disintegration of the paving or flooring. Furthermore, where separate blocks with separate bases are employed, there is an opportunity for water to trickle in between the individual blocks and assist in deterioration ofthe roadway as, for instance, under freezing conditions. Again, defective action of one or more blocks with `individual bases will cause the defect to spread and thereby injure adjacent blocks through, perhaps, large areas. This disadvantage is not present when our invention is followed, since the base is unitary over a large area. The fact that we employ paving or iiooring elements without individual bases, saves weight, l

which is important in respect to transportathe ineiiicient defective or injurious action ofblocks with individual bases, above recited, as well as others inherent in such individual base arrangements. The net result is that we obtain a paving or-llooring which is very firm and immovable under traffic conditions while having a yielding, silent and durable surface.

While we have shown the projections on the rubber element as in the shape of studs, the invention may be carried out by other forms of projections, and we desire it to be understood that various changes may be resorted to in the form, construction, material, composition and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention; and hence, we d o not intend to be limited to the Idetails herein shown and described, except as they may be included in the claims.

`What we claim is:

l. A paving or flooring comprising, a bed i remoto '.inithemselves substantial anchoring properties and constituting Vthe sole means -of securing the elementto the bed, a plurality of said projections being spaced from the edges of the element and so arranged that, on any sectional plane substantially parallel to the paving or flooring surface and passing through a projection, continuous strips 'i of substantial width of bed material extend from each side of each element to the oppo.; site sidev thereof, and pass between apluralityof said projections spaced from the4 edges ofthe element, whereby the elements are secured to the 4bed material at points sucient in number and properly located sopas to ,maintain firm union of the elements 1 and thebed irrespective of the direction in edges 'of the element, the total area of the which traflicforces may be exerted, .and adequate bed area is provided in contact with the under side of the'element intermediate the projections. Y

2. A paving or flooring "comprising, a bed of hardened plastic material, and a plurality of rubber surface elements intimately united therewith, each element being provided, on its under face, with -a plurality of projections Acomposed of -substantially the same material as the element itself, the projections being so formed as toembody within themselves substantial anchoring properties` and constituting the solel means of securing the element to the bed, aplurality of said projections being spaced from the edges of the element and so arranged that, on any sectional plane substantially parallel to the paving' or iooring*l surface and passingv through a projection, continuous strips of substantial width of bed material extend from each side of each element to the opposite side thereof, andl pass between a plurality of said projections spaced from the surface of each paving element being at least twice the'total area of the bases of its projections, whereby the elements are se-V cured to the bed material at points sucient in number and properly locatedL so as to maintain firm union of the elements and the Vbed irrespective of the direction in whichA traiic forces may be exerted, and adequate bed area is provided -in contact with the `under side of the element intermediate the projections.

' ,3. A paving or flooring comprising, a` bed of hardened plastic material, anda plural.

ity of rubber surface elements intimately united therewith, each element being provided, -on its under face, with' a plurality of projections composed of substantially the same material as the element itself, the projections being undercut toward the under 'face of the element, a plurality of said projections being spacedfrom the edges ofthe `element and so arranged that, on any sectional plane Substantially -parallel to the as to maintain lfirm union of the elements ,of bed material `extend from each side of element being at least twice the total area ,from each side of each element to the op 'osite'side thereof, and pass between ap u- 70 rality of said projections spaced from the edges of the element, whereby the elements u' aresecured to the bed lmaterial at points sufficient .in number and properly located so and the bed irrespective of the direction in which traffic forces may be exerted,-and adequate bed' area is provided in contact with the under side of the element intermediate the projections.

4. A paving or flooring comprising, a bed of hardened plastic material, and av plurality of rubber surface elements intimately united therewith, each element being. provided, on its under face, lwith a plurality of' projecw tions composed of substantially the same maz terial as the element itself, the projections being undercut toward the under face of the element, a pluralityof said projections being spaced from the-edges of the element and so arrangedv that, on any sectional plane substantially parallel-to the paving or looring surface and passing through a projection, continuous strips of substantial width each element to the opposite side thereof, and pass between a plurality of said projections spaced from the edges of the element, the total area ofthe surface of each paving M0 of the bases of its projections, whereby the elements are secured to the bed material at points vsufficient in number and properly located so as to maintain firm union of the elements and the bed irrespective of the direction in which traflic forces may be exerted,a'nd adequate' bed area is provided in contact with-the under sidefof the element intermediate the projections.'

5.' A paving or flooring comprising, a bed of hardened plastic material, and a'plural* ity of rubber surface elements intimately unitedv therewith, each element being p rovided, on its under face, with Aa plurality of projections composed of substantially the same material as the element itself, the projections being undercut vtoward vthe under face of the element and varying in the distancetliey extend into the bed, a plurality of said projections being spaced from the edgesof the element and so arranged that, on any sectional plane substantially parallel to the paving or flooring surface and passing through a projection, continuous stripsofsubstantial width vof bed material extend from each side of each` element to the opposite side thereof, and pass between a plurality of said projections spaced from the edges of the element, the total area of the surface s of each paving element being at least twice the total area of the bases of its projections, in contact with the under side of the element wherein7 the elements are secured to the bed intermediate the projections.'

material at points suicient in number and I'n testimony, that We claim the foregoing 10 properly located so as to maintain firm union as our invention, We have signed our naines 5 .of thc elements and the bed irrespective of this first day of August 1924.

the direction in which trafiic forces may be ERNEST CLARK. exerted, and adcquate bed area is provided DANIEL T. GILR'IARTIN, JR. 

